A 13-year-old reported he was robbed at knifepoint in downtown Melrose on May 22, at about 4:15 p.m.

The Melrose youth said he was approached by two men while walking on Main Street, near West Foster Street. One of the men asked to borrow the teen’s cell phone to make a call, and the boy agreed.

When the teen asked for his iPhone back, one of the men told him to "just walk away" and "raised his shirt to reveal what appeared to be a knife handle," said Lt. Mark DeCroteau.

The suspect then reached into his pocket and lifted the handle more, to show some of the blade.

The teen said he walked away, and the men followed him as he crossed the street, so he hurried into the municipal lot near Mexico Lindo and Papa Gino’s. There, he banged on the door of a business until someone came out, allowing him to call a parent.

The family members then went to the police station to file the report.

The teen described one of the suspects as a dark-skinned black male, heavy set and very tall. The other he described as a light-skinned black male, 17 to 20 years old, with thin, messy hair and wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt and a red or black snap-back baseball hat.

Three days later, on May 25, four Melrose teenagers showed up at a Gooch Street home saying they’d been robbed and asking to use the resident’s phone.

When officers responded, at about 10 p.m., the four teens described what happened to them. They were walking on Bellevue Avenue, near the Upham Street side, when they were approached by a group of six to 10 men.

The Melrose teens, who are all 14 to 15 years old, told police the men surrounded them and demanded they hand over their cell phones, hats and wallets.

"There was no weapon shown, but one of the suspects placed his hand behind his back and indicated he had a firearm," said DeCroteau.

Claiming to have a gun while committing a crime — whether or not the suspect actually possesses a weapon — legally qualifies as armed robbery.

The victims handed over their belongings and the suspects left the area, possibly getting into a white car.

The teens then ran to the nearby home on Gooch Street to call for help. They described the perpetrators as Hispanic males, in their late teens or early 20s.